<p>My kids' HS had a great football team this year and one of the stars was a linebacker who happened to be number 13 in a class of about 600. He just announced that he has committed to Harvard, but also considered Princeton.</p>
<p>So parents, that's a formula: Football star + top of the class = Ivy.</p>
<p>Except for one thing- you can't just be a high school football star, you have to have the potential to play at D1 college level (albeit the Ivy League is certainly somewhat below most of D1).</p>
<p>I guess if I'd added that he was a from a Texas 5A school, that would have been assumed. (Winking)</p>
<p>"So parents, that's a formula: Football star + top of the class = Ivy."</p>
<p>Plus the scores that indicate one can handle Ivy coursework.</p>
<p>There are plenty of football stars that are top of the class, but have horrendous scores, so wouldn't be able to handle Ivy coursework, though they may end up winning the Superbowl one day.</p>
<p>Yeah, his scores were great, too.</p>
<p>D1 - calibre athlete + great GPA + high test scores has been the formula for Ivy admission for as long as I have been paying attention.</p>
<p>Yeah, that describes him. I've never really been interested in the "who signed with what school" articles, but I was really waiting to see where this kid would end up. (Of course, having a senior, I sort of know a few of these boys, and a couple of the football players have committed to schools that I don't think they could have otherwise gotten into minus the football skill.)</p>
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So parents, that's a formula: Football star + top of the class = Ivy
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<p>Not necessarily. I had a high school classmate who was co-captain of the football team + co-valedictorian (straight A's) + varsity academic team + high test scores and a tough courseload + class president + his brother was at Harvard. Harvard rejected him.</p>
<p>Certainly, it's not going to <em>hurt</em> to be a football star and at the top of your class, but with most top colleges it's never as simple as a formula.</p>
<p>^^^ So where did that kid wind up? Some shabby college no one has ever heard of?? Or some equally top-tier school? We all know there are no guarantees.</p>
<p>For the athletics to have an impact, the college has to need/want that skill. Also, I know of some kids who got into ivies (not HPY) with SAT scores under 1200 (out of 1600) and barely a B average. They were impact athletes for sports that meant a lot to the schools.</p>
<p>They also have to have need at the position. I remember reading that a past president at Harvard said that anyone with a 650 on the SAT CR section could do well in the Harvard curriculum, so athletic skills that allow one to play at D1 without much hope of a bowl game or a shot at the NFL (and no athletic scholarship) are perhaps the most desirable qualities.</p>
<p>In reality, football star and above average grades can get you into Harvard, they are known to bend more than any other ivy.</p>
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Not necessarily. I had a high school classmate who was co-captain of the football team + co-valedictorian (straight A's) + varsity academic team + high test scores and a tough courseload + class president + his brother was at Harvard. Harvard rejected him.
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<p>Co-captain of a mediocre football team won't do it. You need to be a Division 1 calibre football player.</p>
<p>Where I come from it's the hockey player that gets that kind of attention. However, a really smart but not the best football player (or any athlete but football just because of the roster numbers) helps out an ivy league or DI team simply because it brings up the overall gpa of the team allowing the coach to take a less than stellar academic (who's triple rated on the field). My son's a solid athlete, but we've always invested in the best helmet because we knew that it wasn't athletic talent that was going to make him successful in life.</p>
<p>Bball + top student + URM = Harvard round these particular parts :D (+ all around great person by all reports, although I don't know if that is a factor in admissions)</p>
<p>It's always the star athlete but never the star musician. </p>
<p>Athletes can get full rides no matter what they major in but musicians can only hope to get pocket change and then only if they are music majors.</p>
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It's always the star athlete but never the star musician.
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Well, yeah, but people don't camp out for tickets and paint themselves blue for college orchestra concerts.</p>
<p>nunya- Most college athletes do not get full rides. Revenue sport athletes do- in many other sports scholarships are split/shared and only a certain number are available for a particular team.</p>
<p>There's money out there for star musicians - just a different set of schools. </p>
<p>There are also lots of athletes who get in over their heads at schools where they have no business being - UVA comes to mind.</p>
<p>nunya: Graduate students in the schools of music at Northwestern University & Yale University attend tuition free & can make money fairly easily to pay for living expenses.</p>